


Against All Odds

by courtneywrites



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25540123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/courtneywrites/pseuds/courtneywrites
Summary: The odds are never in your favor. Especially when you're just an ordinary girl from District Four with a tragic past. Annie Cresta wasn't supposed to be District Four's tribute for the 70th Hunger Games. She wasn't supposed to survive the games. And yet, against all odds, she survived. But nobody prepared her for the scars that linger and the life of a victor.
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have been working on this story for a long time and I'm incredibly excited to finally post it. This story is going to be heavily focused on Annie's point of view, but I have planned for some chapters to be from Finnick's point of view too. I've always wanted to write Annie and Finnick's love story, as a couple I've always been fascinated by then and I'm excited to explore their dynamic further and more importantly to give Annie a voice.

Every morning I found myself sitting on the sand near the ocean, watching the fisherman boats go out to sea. There was something calming about the water. My father had been a captain on one of the boats before the accident changed our lives as we knew it. He had taught me to swim, like most in District Four, when I was three. From that moment on, I loved the water and spent hours at the beach and on his boat growing up.

My dad had always said that the sea took away all of your worries and that there was something about the sea that could make you be reborn.

I didn't always believe it, but there was something about being on the shore, watching the boats going out to sea that drew me there. My mother always said that whenever I was having a bad day she could find me sitting on the shore or in the water. It was my happy place, a place that I felt connected to my father still, despite everything that had happened these last few years.

The eight o'clock horn sounded behind me, and I jumped up off the sand and leaned down and grabbed my shoes. School was starting and I was going to be late. I couldn't have another tardy; Principal Ford had said that I would spend a week in detention again if I was late again. Mom would be so angry and my stepfather would be disappointed. Mom had so much to worry about lately with the new baby and our floundering net business.

Dropping my sandals to the ground, I quickly slipped my feet into them and shook the sand off of my clothes. The last thing that I needed was to show up to school all sandy. My shoes were already a breach of our uniform, although at seventeen our teachers tended to look the other way. With just a year left of our schooling, they were more focused on making sure that we had the skills that we needed to start lives in District Four and to make sure that we were more productive members of society. It probably helped that our teacher this year, Miss Langton was barely older than us and had a soft spot for most of us. She could still remember what it was like to be a student, not like ancient Principal Ford.

I started to run as fast as I could pass the hospital where I spent all of my days after school and past The Academy where students who were chosen as tributes would train at. It was a large building, one of the largest in District Four, I thought. I had only been inside one time when I was seven and we were tested on whether we had the raw skill to begin training for the Hunger Games. I hadn't been chosen and instead I was sent to regular school to learn the skills for one of the careers in our district. We were a district of fishermen and divers and net weavers. We supplied the Capitol and most of the districts with their marine goods.

My hands were pulling my hair up into a ponytail as a group approached me and I sighed. It was Saylor, Rachel, and Cora, and I immediately braced myself for the inevitable. We had been friends, once upon a time, but after the accident, they had started to shun me.

As they walked past me, Saylor purposefully bumped into my shoulder, hard, and I fell to the ground. My backpack fell to the ground beside me and my hands went out to catch myself. I winced as my hands hit the pavement and I felt the familiar stinging on my hands. I just wanted them to keep moving on, but I sensed them stopping behind me and sighed. I didn't get up but I turned to look back at them.

"Hey," I greeted like they hadn't just pushed me to the ground.

"Traitor," Saylor spat at me.

"Hasn't it been enough, Saylor?"

"No," Saylor snapped, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder as she looked down at me. "It's enough when I say it's enough. You and your family will never be forgiven for what you did."

I opened my mouth to say something, but the girls suddenly looked past me, at something else. They started to fix their hair and clothes and I narrowed my eyes. I turned my head and saw Finnick Odair approaching. Of course. All of the girls in District Four and by extension the Capitol adored Finnick Odair. The youngest victor in Hunger Games history, he worked at The Academy training the tributes for the Games. He was a bit of an enigma around District Four and typically stayed to himself although all the girls in District Four would drop anything to be with him. He had done some work for my father at one point in time right after he won the games.

"What's going on here, ladies?" He asked with his charming smile as he looked down at me and back at Saylor, who could best be described as preening.

"I'm going to volunteer next week, Finnick," Saylor told him with a smile.

"That's great, Saylor. Why don't you girls go inside? You're about to be late."

The girls said their goodbyes and turned to walk into The Academy.

"Annie Cresta," Finnick Odair said with a grin as he looked down at me on the ground.

"Hi Finnick," I said with a wince as he held his hand out to me. I sighed and took it, wincing slightly at my cut up hands.

"Still getting yourself into trouble?" He asked with a smirk.

I just shrugged. "Trouble seems to find me. I'm going to be late for school."

"Better get going than," he said.

"See you around, Finnick," I replied, giving him a small smile.

The second horn blew and I was officially late for school. I sighed. I guess it was another detention for me. I was still a few blocks away from school so I started running again. Stupid Saylor and her stupid friends making me late for school. I wished that I had never run into them, Principal Ford was just going to be furious.

I was relieved to see the school come into view and I ran up the steps and pulled the door open. It was a much smaller building than The Academy and it hadn't been updated for as long as I could remember. Most of the money in education had been funneled to making sure that District Four had victors. I started towards my classroom hoping that I didn't run into Principal Ford when I heard someone clear their throats behind me.

"Miss Cresta," Principal Ford said, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Principal Ford," I replied, glancing at my classroom door a few feet away from where we were standing.

"You're late," he stated.

"I'm sorry," I replied.

"Detention starts tomorrow."

I nodded my head. There was no use in arguing, even though I would have been on time if it wasn't for Saylor.

"Go," he said.

I slipped into the classroom a moment later and took my seat as all of my classmates watched me.

* * *

The moment that school was over I was headed towards the hospital. It was my after school routine, but I realized with my detention starting tomorrow that I wouldn't be able to come like I usually did. In District Four, we were lucky to have a stable hospital with good doctors. Some of the other districts didn't have them, although I didn't really know what they did when they needed medical treatment. I supposed that they had doctors; they just didn't have the technology and supplies that we had.

Pushing open the door to the hospital, I smiled and greeted the man sitting behind the desk and made my way through the familiar halls of the hospital. Stopping outside a door labeled Room 501 I took a moment and paused. I sighed and then pushed the door open and put a smile on my face.

"Hi Dad," I greeted, walking over to the bed. I leaned down and kissed his cheek and sat down in the chair.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out the net I was working on and started to tie the knots. Curling my feet up under my body, I looked over at my dad. It had been two and a half years since the accident and the doctors said that it was unlikely that he would ever wake up, but I still had hope. Even as the world around us moved on, I was still here, hoping that my father would wake up one day.

Even though dad never spoke or knew that I was there, I didn't want to abandon him even though my mom had. She got married a year and a half ago to my stepfather, Oscar, and there was a time when I held it against her. I thought that it had been too quick but I had realized that I couldn't hate my mom anymore. Things were better with my mom now but I still didn't have much of a relationship with my stepfather, we were cordial but I didn't think of him as my dad and I didn't think that I ever would.

"Hi, Annie," Brooke, my favorite nurse said, popping her head in.

"Hi, Brooke."

"How are you, sweetie?"

"I'm good," I replied, smiling.

Brooke smiled and said she would pop in later and I thanked her. I had gotten to know most of the staff since my dad came in and I appreciated everything that they did for him. It had been hard at first, sitting with my dad every day. I longed to hear my dad's voice again or to have one of our conversations about school and what I wanted to be when I grew up and was done with school. There had been a time when I would sit down and stare at my dad willing him to wake up again. I would sit there for hours and try to compel him to wake up again. Over time I realized that it wasn't going to work and that I needed to accept what had happened to him, but it was still hard.

"Mom's going to be mad at me. I was late for school again but it wasn't my fault this time. I ran into Saylor…and well…she's never going to forgive me for the accident. I just wish she would go back to ignoring me. Marina said that I can't let it get to me and I usually don't. But with the detention and the run in…today's just been a hard day. I wish that you were here to give me advice like you used to. I miss having you here. Oscar's nice and he's good with the baby but I feel like you should still be here with us. I wish that the accident had never happened and I wish that things were normal still."

I reached up and wiped a few tears from my eyes. I closed my eyes and tried to steady myself. I didn't want to get worked up again. Today had just been a bad day and I wished that I could go back to the beach but I only had a few more minutes here before I needed to get back home. And I wouldn't be able to get here again until the weekend and then the reaping would be next Tuesday and I knew that I would have to get here that morning, just in case.

"I have detention for a week," I told him with a sigh. "I know you would be disappointed in me, and I'm sorry. The Hunger Games start next week. I heard Saylor say that she's going to volunteer. I have mixed feelings about it. Do you remember when we used to be best friends? I miss how things were back then, before the accident, and before she decided that she blames me for what happened to her dad. It wasn't your fault. You tried your best to save everyone…but it was an impossible situation. But Saylor doesn't see it that way. She resents that you're still here…even though it's just as hard for me and it feels like I lost you two and a half years ago when the accident happened. Even though you're here, dad, you're not really here. It's just a constant waiting and wishing for you to wake up and knowing that it's not going to happen. I just…I wish things were different."

I sighed and put my net back into my bag and leaned over and kissed my dad's cheek.

"I won't be back tomorrow. I have detention. But I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? I love you, dad."

I stood up and glanced at the clock. It was almost dinner time and I had been there for over an hour, but I needed to get home for dinner.

"See you, dad."


	2. Chapter 2

"Annie! Detention, again?" my mom said exasperated as she held my baby brother in her arms as she looked at me.

I had barely come through the door when my mom was already on me, clearly not happy that I was late to school today. I couldn't believe that Principal Ford had called her before I was able to tell mom myself.

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have been late if it wasn't for Saylor—"

"Annie, please, don't give me excuses. This has been a problem for you lately. Were you wasting your time at the beach again?"

"It's not a waste of time, mom," I retorted, frustrated.

It was frustrating, how my mom wanted to erase any memory of my father, even now. I didn't resent her anymore but it was still hard for me when she made comments like that. Before the accident, I had been closer to my dad than my mom. He just understood me in a way that my mom never could. It had taken me time to realize that my mom resented that my dad left her behind and that our social status had changed after the accident. It had been hard when people blamed him for the deaths of his crew when it wasn't his fault.

I was sitting in class when the sirens started. Everyone knew what that meant. One of the ships had gone down. My heart immediately started to pound, was my dad out at sea today? I couldn't remember if I had told him that I loved him this morning before I left for school. I sat there, unmoving, even as my classmates around me got up and started to rush towards the exit. I didn't want to know. I couldn't know. I could feel my heart pounding and I felt like I was about to throw up.

"Annie, let's go," my best friend Marina said. Her father was also a captain on a different ship, and growing up; our families had spent every Saturday together for as long as I could remember.

I could see the fear in her eyes that I knew was reflected in my own. I felt numb as I lifted myself off of my chair and looked at Marina. My legs were shaking as we started to run out of the school and towards the beach. It wasn't my dad's boat. It couldn't be my dad's boat. My dad was fine. I kept telling myself that my dad was fine. But something in my gut was telling me that it was my dad's ship. I didn't know what made me think that, but I couldn't get the thought out of my head.

All of District Four was congregating at the beach. There were thousands of people and it was impossible to find anyone that I knew in the crowd. It felt like we were surrounded by strangers. Marina and I huddled together towards the back of the crowd, but we couldn't see anything from where we were standing. Seagulls cried overhead and I looked up at them. I wished that I was one of the seagulls so I could see what was happening in the water. It had been a long time since there was an accident like this and the tension was palpable.

"What do you think is happening?" Marina whispered to me.

"I don't know. I wish we were closer," I said.

When a ship went down in District Four it was usually related to mines that were leftover from the war. It had been decades since the war and at least five since a ship hit a mine. We had all assumed that they were all gone now, but it appeared that there was still a mine, unless something different had happened.

I don't know how long we stood on the beach before my mother suddenly appeared in front of me. I could see it in her eyes, the haunted, devastated look in her eyes and I just knew that it was my dad.

"Annie—" my mom started, her voice hoarse.

"It's—it's dad, right? He…is he…?"

"They brought him to the hospital. We need to go," she said.

I didn't know how we got to the hospital, I just found myself sitting in a hard and uncomfortable chair next to my mom. We didn't know what had happened besides what my mom had seen. It had been his ship, The Pearl that had collided into the reef and quickly capsized. All of his crew was dead, and I felt numb. Saylor's dad was dead; he was in my dad's crew. So many of my classmate's parents were on my dad's ship and now they were all gone. I didn't understand how my dad was still alive. I had been so sure that he was gone but I didn't dare hope that he was going to be okay. When they found him on the ship he had been barely alive, and my mom had said that the doctors said not to get their hopes up.

Two Peacekeepers walked into the lobby of the hospital, but I didn't pay them any mind outside of noticing their presence.

I looked at my mom and frowned. I didn't know what was going to happen to us if my dad was gone. My mom had never had to work, being married to my dad. As a captain, our family was one of the wealthier families in District Four. Even at fourteen, I realized how lucky I was that my father was wealthy by District standards and that we had a relatively easy life. Mom didn't work and it was kind of assumed that whatever job I wanted I would be able to do. I had dreams of being a teacher for the younger kids in District Four, and dad assured me that I could be whatever I wanted to be.

"Isla Cresta?" One of the Peacekeepers asked.

"Yes?" My mother asked, sitting up straighter and taking my hand.

"I need you to come with me."

"I'm waiting for my husband and my daughter will be here by herself."

"It won't take long."

"It's okay mom," I said. "I'll stay here and wait for someone to come to tell us about dad."

Mom looked at me for a moment and then nodded her head. She rose to her feet and followed the Peacekeepers. My heart was racing. What could they want with mom? My father was friendly with most of the Peacekeepers and we had never had any problems with them. I couldn't imagine what it was that they wanted to talk about, but perhaps they had wanted to talk to her about what was happening to dad.

I didn't know how long I sat there by myself before my mom returned. I looked up at her and for the first time, I was afraid. There was something in her eyes that I didn't recognize and it scared me.

"Your father crashed the boat on purpose."

"Annie," my mom said firmly and I looked at her. I could tell that she had been trying to get my attention for a while, and I felt guilty. "I was asking you if you still want to be a teacher."

"Of course," I replied.

"Then you need to get it together, sweetheart," my mom said gently, looking at me. "Principal Ford won't let you be a teacher if you keep upsetting him."

As much as I hated to admit it, my mom was right. Even with Miss Langton's help, it would ultimately be Principal Ford's decision if I was able to become a teacher. I didn't want to work on a boat, even though I loved the sea and felt connected to my dad there, I hadn't stepped foot on a boat ever since. I couldn't be a fisherman or a diver, and I couldn't work on a boat. And I didn't want to weave nets with my mom, although even as a teacher, I was sure that I would help mom with things when I could, I didn't want it to be my entire life.

"I'll be better mom, I promise."

My mom leaned down and kissed my head. "I know that you will be. I know things have been hard for you at school, Annie. But you're a Cresta, you can get through anything."

I nodded my head. "I know, mom."

It was a stab in the heart, hearing her say what dad always told me when I was growing up. He would always say Annie, you're a Cresta and Cresta's can do anything. It was times like this that I wished we weren't living in this limbo. It was utter hell, knowing that dad was still alive, technically, but he wasn't really there. As much as I hated the thought of him being really gone, at least we could have some kind of closure to this chapter in our lives.

"I love you, Annie."

"I love you too," I replied.

I took my brother, Hal, from my mom and smiled down at him. Even though it was strange, having a baby brother now, I absolutely adored him. Whenever I got home from school I tried to give my mom a bit of a break from taking care of him. She was doing so much now between taking care of the baby and her business. I was proud of her for everything that she had done since my dad's accident. She had been thrown into a life that she hadn't signed up for and she was doing her best. It had taken me almost two years to get to this point of understanding for my mom, but I was glad that we were repairing our relationship and I no longer resented her for remarrying and having my brother.

The day of the accident changed our lives forever. We were thankfully able to stay in the house that I had grown up in, although we were always worried about being displaced if they had too many captains and needed the house but it hadn't happened yet. My mother had always enjoyed her status as a captain's wife and the fall in the people's eyes to a so-called traitor's wife had been hard for her. People ignored her in public, which was preferable, but it had been a hard time for my mom. We still didn't understand why dad had done what he had done, but people, especially the families of his crew, blamed us for what had happened. I wished that I could ask my dad why he had done it, I wanted to believe that the investigators had been wrong and that dad didn't do it on purpose but I had no way of proving that or even asking him.

I smiled down at Hal and he looked up at me with his wide eyes. I laughed and let him take my finger and it immediately went into his mouth. I sighed and shook my head. I couldn't wait until he was a little bit older and we could have fun together.

"Saylor said that she's volunteering next week," I told my mom.

Mom sighed and shook her head. "Her poor family. Haven't they suffered enough?"

I shrugged. When we had been friends, Saylor had always wanted to volunteer and bring glory to her family. I had never felt that desire. I hated watching the Hunger Games and I had never felt that desire to volunteer. The Hunger Games were barbaric and I had never wanted to take part in it. I felt very lucky that I lived in District Four and every year we usually had volunteers and whoever was initially reaped usually didn't end up as our tribute.

"She thinks she can win."

"I hope she does for her mother," mom said, walking over and kissing my head before she went to the kitchen to finish dinner. "Put Hal down and come help me."

"Okay," I nodded, placing him in his bassinet; I went to join my mom in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter but it was an important one, nonetheless. The next chapter will be the reaping and the start of the 70th Hunger Games. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think Saylor's really going to do it?" Ariel asked, her brown eyes wide as she looked at me and Marina.

"Yeah, I do," I replied, digging my hand into the sand and letting it fall through my fingers. I watched the crystals fall faster and faster until there was just a light dusting of sand in the palm of my hand. "She told Finnick Odair that she was going to."

"Maybe she was just trying to impress him. We all know that she wants him," Marina pointed out.

"I don't know, the way she said it, she sounded confident. And after today, she just has one more chance to volunteer. It seems a waste to train for the games and then never volunteer," I said with a shrug, running my hand through my hair, sighing.

It was a tradition for me and my two best friends, Ariel and Marina, to go down to the beach on the morning of the reaping. It had started the year that we turned twelve and were entered into the reaping. I had been so scared even though my dad had assured me that even if my name was picked there would be someone bigger or older that would volunteer. That was the way in District Four. We had more potential tributes that were ready to step forward and volunteer than most districts. It was after I watched Livia Rain volunteer that my father's words had really sunk in. We were privileged to live in District Four where our tributes wanted to fight. I hadn't realized it myself until I was standing with the other twelve-year-old girls, standing with Ariel, Marina, and Saylor, that I had truly understood what it was like to stand among the other girls, standing under the hot sun with the seagulls flying overhead as we waited to hear if our lives to be changed forever.

I always thanked my lucky stars that mine never had.

"Earth to Annie," Marina said, snapping her finger with an indulgent smile on her lips. "Gone off to your place again?"

"Sorry," I said with a sheepish smile.

"You know we love you, Annie. Even if you have your head in the clouds all the time," Ariel giggled, nudging me with her shoulder. I nudged her back and we dissolved into laughter.

"Who do you think is going to be the boy tribute this year?" Marina asked, laying back on the sand and looking up at the beautiful blue sky.

"Maybe Finn? Or Dylan? They're both eighteen this year," Ariel said with a shrug, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder as she looked down at Marina.

"Maybe," Marina agreed. "What do you think, Annie?"

"I don't know, I hope it's not Trent. He's nice," I said as I felt my face heat up as I thought about the boy with sandy blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes.

Marina and Ariel shared a look and then started to laugh. "You likeee him," Marina said in a singsong voice, a grin on her face.

"I don't!" I exclaimed. "He's just…he's nice to me."

After my dad's accident, most people avoided me like the plague. They either blamed me for what my dad had done, the families of the sailors that had been aboard my dad's ship, or they felt bad for me and didn't know what to say. But Trent had always been nice to me, had always smiled at me from across the street when I saw him. I didn't think that it meant anything, but it was nice anyway, to think that maybe… someone would see me for who I was and not for the crime my father had committed.

"I bet you he likes you," Ariel said with a smile.

"I doubt that," I replied, shaking my head.

"Don't do that, Annie," Marina said. "Anybody would be lucky to be with you."

"Please," I said, even though I felt my cheeks turn pink. "I'm not that pretty, not like you and Ariel."

"Are you crazy? I would kill to have your beautiful red hair, Annie," Marina said, leaning over and toying with my hair. I lightly slapped her hand.

"Okay, fine, you guys think I'm pretty but what about my dad, hm? Nobody wants the girl whose dad drove his boat into the cliffs."

They were both quiet as they looked at me. They never knew what to say when I said things like that and I didn't blame them. It was enough knowing that they were there for me after the accident. Ariel and Marina stayed by my side as Saylor and some of our other family friends abandoned us.

"You know that that doesn't matter to us," Ariel said quietly.

"I know," I said, offering them a small smile. "Guys, please, I know that you are here for me. You've been here for me through it all and I'm going to always be grateful for you guys."

"There's nowhere else we would rather be," Marina said.

I nodded my head.

"It's weird to think of Saylor volunteering today…I know that she's not our friend anymore but she was. We've never had someone close to us volunteer before," Ariel mused, toying with a seashell she had found on the beach.

"I know. The closest thing we had was when Cole volunteered two years ago. And even then we weren't really friends, just classmates," Marina agreed.

We grew quiet after that. Even though we weren't worried about ourselves, reaping days were still strange. We tried to hide our anxiety with laughter and teasing and pretending that it was any day but July fourth. But at the end of the day, it was reaping day and it always came back to that. Today we would know someone who was going to the Hunger Games. We would most likely lose two classmates, two people that we grew up with. If it was Saylor, I wasn't sure how I would feel. Our friendship had seemed like a lifetime ago and she had made it her personal mission in life to make my life miserable and yet…how would it feel if she was gone? My life would be easier, I guess, without her there to torment me…but that would mean that she was dead. And I didn't want that either.

"I need to get back home before my mom starts to fuss," Ariel said, pushing up off the sand and holding her hand out for us to grab.

"I want to go see my dad," I said with a nod, offering them both smiles.

"Want me to come?" Marina offered.

"Nah, it's okay, I'd rather go by myself," I said. "But thanks for offering."

"No problem."

We stood there, awkwardly for a moment just looking at one another. The next time we saw each other would be at the reaping in a few hours. It was mid-morning now and our reaping didn't happen until late afternoon. Being so close to the Capitol had its perks, I supposed, it meant that we had most of our day to ourselves before we needed to gather in the district square for the reaping.

"See you later?" I finally said, reaching over to hug my friends. I smiled at them and said my goodbyes before I turned to start walking towards the hospital.

My other reaping day tradition was going to sit with my father until the absolute last moment. Ever since his accident, I worried about what would happen to me if my name was picked and I had to go to the games. Even though his advice to me when I was eleven was still something I hang onto, the possibility of having to leave District Four scared me. If I was gone, who would come to visit my dad? I didn't think that mom would ever come, she had Oscar now and she didn't like to think about our lives before the accident. She didn't like to come to the hospital; she said that it was depressing. But her resistance to going made me more determined to come and sit with him every day.

I walked past the square where they were setting up for the reaping. They had already erected the stage for the reaping and they were setting out the victors chairs at the moment. In a few hours, this square would be filled with every single member of District Four and two of us would be leaving, possibly forever. It wasn't easy to see them setting up and I couldn't wait until the reaping was over and I could relax again. After the reaping, all of the people in Four would celebrate our tributes and the families of the tributes would be honored by our mayor. We would all celebrate and secretly be grateful that it wasn't our family that was being affected by the Games.

I arrived at the hospital and made my way to my father's room. It was quiet in the halls, everybody was at home preparing for the reaping. The nurses and doctors who didn't have eligible children would stay behind in the hospital to take care of the patients and the livestream of the reaping would be played on every television in the hospital. I wished that I could stay here with my dad instead of having to go but I didn't want to think about what the punishment was if I didn't show up.

As I rounded the corner to my dad's room, I held my breath and wished with all my might that I would open the door and my dad would be sitting up in his bed awake. I could picture it in my mind as I opened the door, my eyes squeezed shut. When I opened them I was disappointed as usual. My dad was laying there with his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling slowly. He wasn't awake.

"Hey dad today's reaping day, you know," I said, walking over to his still body and kissing his cheek.

I made myself comfortable in the chair and sighed, looking over at him. "Saylor's supposed to volunteer today. I don't really know how I feel about it. She hates me now, ever since the accident and I don't blame her. But I really don't want her to die either, dad. She was my friend once. It wouldn't be fair to her mom to lose her husband and her daughter too. But another part of me realizes that my life would be so much easier if she wasn't here anymore. Maybe things could go back to how they used to be. Without her being the ringleader, I think that things could be different. But when I think like that I realize that it means that she's dead and that makes me feel like a terrible person," I sighed. "I wish that you were here, dad. You always gave the best advice."

"You're late, Annie," my mom chastised as I came through the door.

"I was sitting with dad," I said, a frown on my lips.

"I don't understand why you feel it necessary to sit with him every single day. He doesn't know that you're there," she replied dismissively.

"Just because you don't love dad anymore doesn't mean that I don't too," I snapped at her as I ran up the steps, two at a time to get ready for the reaping.

"Annie," My mom called after me as I shut my door behind me.

My chest was rising and falling quickly as I rested my head back against my door. I knew that I shouldn't have said something like that to my mom, especially not on reaping day, but I couldn't help it. It felt like we were just always going to have different opinions when it came to dad and to my reaction to what had happened. I had accepted that a long time ago but it still hurt to hear her dismiss why I needed to sit with dad, especially today. I reached up and wiped the few frustrated tears that had fallen and knew that I needed to get to work.

The reaping was in an hour. I could hear people beginning to head towards the square and I sighed. I had stayed at the hospital for too long.

I glanced over at the dress that my mom had picked out. It was a white dress with a ruffled skirt with a sash to tie around the waist and it hit just above my knees. It was a pretty dress, one of my favorites, and I smiled as I walked over to it on my bed and ran my hand over it. The sash was a beautiful green color that matched my eyes and it was made out of satin. It was a luxury we couldn't afford anymore, a leftover of our old lives. I pulled it on carefully making sure that it was perfect, I glanced in the mirror. I ran a brush through my hair a few times getting rid of the tangles from the beach and I tied my red hair back with a matching ribbon. I applied the tiniest bit of lipstick on my lips, my mother claimed that it enhanced the color. I didn't really see it.

I stood up and glanced in the mirror one last time before I walked back downstairs. My mother was dressed and holding my baby brother. Oscar would meet her at the square.

"You look pretty," My mom said.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Annie, I'm sorry for what I said," she told me, walking over and kissing my forehead. "I love you, Annie, darling. I know why it's important for you to see your dad."

"Thank you," I whispered, looking up at her. "I love you too."

"Come on, we need to get moving," she said, linking her arm with mine.

Together, my mom and Hal and I made our way to the district square. It was a bit of a walk, but I didn't mind. It was a beautiful day out today. It was starting to cool off as the sun went down ever so slightly. As we walked we talked about everything but the reaping. All around us were families doing the same thing, making their way to the center and secretly hoping that it wouldn't be their child today. I thought about Saylor's mom and what she must be thinking. Was she afraid for her? Or was she just proud that her daughter was brave enough to volunteer for the games?

As the stage and the cordoned off area came into view, we stopped. I turned to my mom and smiled.

"I will come and find you after the reaping, okay?" I told her.

"I love you, Annie," she said, leaning down and kissing my forehead.

"I know. I love you too." I smiled at Hal, who returned my smile. "I love you too, Hal. Be good for mom, you hear me?" I smiled and kissed him too.

"Isla, over here!" Marina's mom called. My mom turned and smiled and nodded her head.

"See you soon," she said.

I nodded and found myself in line waiting to sign in. I could see Ariel and Marina already standing with the other seventeen-year-old girls and I lifted my hand up to wave. They spotted me and smiled, I knew that they were saving me a spot with them. I just hoped that I would be able to get through the crowd of girls. I could see Cassia Fernsby, the District Four escort. She was an older woman who was clearly trying to bring back her youth. Ever since Finnick won his games, she had dyed her hair to a sea-green color, the same as Finnick's eyes. The first time that she had shown up with her hair, Marina, Ariel and I had dissolved into giggles. It just seemed so ludicrous for this older woman to do something so crazy. But the people in the Capitol were crazy for Finnick even five years after his victory.

I had finally made it through the sign-in line and made my way over towards Ariel and Marina. The District Four victors were sitting on the stage already, Finnick and Mags, our oldest victor, were talking quietly to themselves. I had always liked Mags, she was a kind older woman who watched over our victors. I couldn't imagine what it was like to be in her place, to have to mentor so many tributes that never came back from the games. It had to be hard. I had nothing but respect for her; I didn't think that there was anybody in District Four who didn't respect her.

"You finally made it," Ariel whispered as I took my place in between both of them.

"Like there's a choice?" I replied, quirking my eyebrow. Ariel shrugged.

"Look at Finnick," Marina said, jutting her head towards him. My eyes followed her look and I saw that he was staring directly at us.

"Why is he looking at us?" I whispered, startled.

"Not us, you," Marina replied.

"What? No!" I exclaimed.

"I don't know, Annie, I think he's watching you."

"Stop," I shifted uncomfortably, looking everywhere but at Finnick. Why was he watching me? It made no sense.

"He's not looking anymore," Ariel said, looking at my red face.

"What was that about?"

I shrugged.

And just like that, the reaping has begun.

"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks," our mayor, Cove Watson, a woman in her mid-fifties, began. It was how the reaping ceremony always started.

She began listing our victors, starting with Mags and ending with Finnick. We had eight victors that were still alive. There had been more but some had died in accidents or from natural causes over the past seventy years. Finnick was our youngest victor, our most recent victor. It had been five years since District Four had seen a victor, and I knew that Mayor Cove wanted another one desperately. It didn't look good for our district to go for several years without a victor.

Finished with her part, for now, Mayor Cove gracefully moves aside to let Cassia Fernsby do her part. Ariel, Marina, and I link hands and hold onto them tightly. This was the worst part, the actual reaping. After this, we would relax again.

"Happy Hunger Games! I have a good feeling about this year, we're going to have another victor, I can just feel it!" She trilled happily, looking back over at Finnick, who gave his most charming smile. Cheers went up through the crowd and I looked at my two best friends. Let it not be one of us, I kept repeating over and over again in my head.

"May the odds be ever in your favor!" Cassia told the crowd as she walked across the stage to the large glass bowl containing the names of every child in District Four. For a moment I'm distracted, wondering how she could possibly walk in those high heel shoes, and I wonder if she will fall. She doesn't and I watch, holding my breath as she reaches into the bowl and pulls out a slip of paper.

I closed my eyes and squeezed their hands tighter as we stood there, waiting for her to read the name. It feels like the seconds go on for an eternity as we wait in silence. I keep repeating my chant in my head, let it not be one of us, let it not be one of us, let it not be one of us. I feel like I could throw up at any moment, my body stiff and tense and a seagull cries overhead.

"Annie Cresta!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this chapter took a little longer than I had intended. We were without power for a few days because of the tropical storm last week and I have had some things happening in my family this past week. However, I am back and ready for the 70th hunger games to begin! I want to thank everybody for reading and for the kudos! As always I would love to hear from you! If you liked this chapter I would love to hear from you and as always have a wonderful day or night wherever you are!


	4. Chapter 4

I could feel the other girls shifting away from me as I stood there, unmoving. I didn't understand at first why they were moving away from me. Why wasn't somebody going up there? Who was the tribute? It suddenly hit me that it was me. I was the tribute. My legs began to shake and I didn't want to move. Why wasn't someone volunteering? Why wasn't Saylor volunteering? Then someone nudged me forward and I found my legs again and I walked forward to the platform. I looked back at Marina and Ariel standing where I had just been a few moments ago. Tears were streaming down Ariel's face and Marina had the look on her face that she got when she was trying not to cry.

Cassia Fernsby with her sea-green hair stood on the platform holding the slip of paper with my name on it. She was standing there, smiling her blithe smile as I took my spot on the platform. I could feel Finnick Odair's eyes on me as I stood there, unseeing. Despite going through this six times before, I had never thought that I would be a tribute. I still couldn't accept that I would be in the games. Someone would volunteer to take my place. I was so sure of it. I wasn't going to have to go to the games. It was going to be fine.

"Now is the time for any volunteers to come forward!" Cassia trilled expectantly.

But she was met with silence. Nobody moved forward. I looked at the girl's section and not one person said anything. I met the gaze of Saylor, and she smirked and my stomach sank. She had wanted to volunteer this year, but I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't going to. Did she hate me so much that she was going to let me go to die? If I went I would die. I was sure of it. I wasn't strong and I had never trained for this. If Saylor wasn't going to volunteer…than I was going to be the tribute. Nobody was going to come forward. Nobody was going to volunteer. I was going to have to go. I was going to die.

"Well then…" Cassia cleared her throat after an awkward silence. "I guess it's time to find out who our male tribute is going to be!"

She walked from the middle of the platform to the glass bowl on the other side and reached her hand in.

When she pulled her hand out, holding the slip of paper, a collective silence fell over the boy's crowd. "Kai Waters!" Cassia announced.

Kai had barely gotten to the front of the crowd when a voice said that he volunteered. The look of relief was evident on Kai's face. At fifteen, I wasn't surprised that he didn't want to be a tribute. I didn't want to be a tribute and I'm seventeen.

"Well, well, well, who is our volunteer!" Cassia said excitedly.

Hudson Bankcraft. I wasn't surprised that he had volunteered, he had been training for this for years, and at eighteen, it was his time. We had been neighbors our entire life, our mothers were friends. I supposed that if I had to die then I would want it to be at his hands. He would make it quick. Our mayor droned on and on as I felt my resolve start to break. My days were limited, every moment mattered. But I wanted to get to the privacy of the Justice Building. I didn't want to break in public. It would make me a target.

The reaping finally came to a close as the sun started to go down. It had been a complete blur, and I hadn't listened to a word of it. The reaping in District Four was one of the last; we are so close to the Capitol that we did things later. Four peacekeepers surrounded us and ushered us towards the building. I looked back at my friend Ariel with tears in her eyes. I lifted my hand in a wave goodbye. We had always said that we couldn't handle the goodbyes. I knew that I would never see her again.

I had been in the justice building many times before with my dad, but this time felt different. More final. The building was beautiful with its marble floor and ivory pillars. On one wall was a mural of Poseidon and the sea. As a child, I had loved sitting in front of it and taking it all in. My father had bought me a paint set that I loved. I always tried to recreate the mural but I didn't have the talent. But I still enjoyed painting for a time.

I found myself in one of the rooms to the left, sitting on a leather couch. Alone without the cameras watching, I pulled my legs to my chest, perfectly aware that it wasn't ladylike but I didn't care.

The door opened and my mom and stepdad appeared. My mom with her wild red hair rushed to me and wrapped her arms around me. She pressed her face against the top of my head.

We stayed like that for a long time not saying anything. How did you say goodbye to your mom? To the woman who did everything to take care of you? We both knew that I wasn't coming back. I had some survival skills, and I was decent with a spear. But I hadn't trained for this and I never killed someone. I wasn't going to win. I would be lucky to make it for three days.

"You will be strong," My mom said. "Promise me that you will be strong."

"I promise," I whispered, but I didn't believe it.

A peacekeeper knocked and said that time was up. My mother pulled away and took something out of her pocket. She took my hand and slid the engagement ring that my father gave her. It was a simple but beautiful ring with aquamarine stones on the side and a pearl in the center. She leaned down and kissed my head.

"I love you, Annie."

"I love you too, mom. Make sure you tell Hal about me, okay?" I asked my voice breaking. "Please…visit dad for me. Please."

"I will," My mom said, kissing my head one last time.

"Take care of my mom and Hal, Oscar. Please," I asked my stepfather, who nodded his head and stepped forward.

"You know that I will," Oscar said, reaching out to take my hand. He squeezed my hand gently. "You give them hell, okay?"

I laughed. "Okay," I said.

Oscar leaned down and kissed the top of my head. Even though we had never been close I was glad that my mom had him for her sake. Without him, she would have been all alone and I hated the thought of my mom being all alone. My mother had dissolved into tears as Oscar let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my mom. I was glad that she had him and Hal. The door shut behind them and I knew that I wouldn't see my mom again.

I hoped that my mom would be okay. I hoped that she would get on without me and that Oscar would be there for her.

The door opened again and my best friend Marina walked in.

"Hey," I said weakly.

"Annie," she said, walking over to me, I scooted over slightly so she could sit down next to me. Marina sat down beside me and I offered her a small smile. She wrapped her arms around me and I rested my head against her.

"This should be Saylor," Marina stated.

"Mari, no, don't blame her," I said. "Please."

"What am I going to do without you, Annie?" Marina whispered.

"You'll be fine," I replied, squeezing her hand gently. "You have Ariel, you'll be strong for her, please?"

Marina nodded.

We sat there in quiet, not saying anything. There was so much that I wanted to say to her but I couldn't find the words to say them. I didn't want to say goodbye to my best friend.

"You'll get to be close to Finnick Odair," Marina finally said.

I had to laugh. "You know that I think that he's too pretty," I retorted, shaking my head. But I was still smiling.

"You are the only one, Annie Cresta," she laughed, shaking her head. "You know that all of the girls want him."

I didn't want to point out that I probably wasn't going to come back, so what did it matter if I spoke to Finnick Odair, but I didn't want to upset her. I wanted her to remember me fondly, and to not think about how we had left our friendship.

"Promise me one thing," I said.

"Anything," Marina replied, looking up at me.

"Make sure you and Ariel visit my dad sometimes? I—I hate to think of him alone—" my voice broke and tears started to stream down my face.

"I promise Annie. Someone will visit with him often. He won't be alone. We'll take care of your family if you don't come back. But you're going to come back."

I laughed bitterly. "Marina, I'm not strong like Hudson or the other tributes. I'll be lucky to make it back."

"You're a survivor Annie Cresta. You need to remember that."

When the time was up, I shakily got to my feet. I wiped away the tears that had fallen and hoped that I looked somewhat okay. I knew that we would be on camera again as we were brought to the train. Marina stood up and reached out to fix my hair slightly. She hugged me tightly before she disappeared. My legs were shaky as I walked out into the lobby again. Hudson was coming out of his room and I offered him a shaky smile. It was so strange, I had known Hudson my entire life, but now here we were, sent to the games as tributes.

The Peacekeepers led us out of the Justice Building. I was overwhelmed by how many people were standing around, watching. When we came into view, a cheer went up in the crowd. Hudson raised his fists up in a cheer. I looked at him, taken aback, but then he reached out and grabbed my hand and pulled it up with his. I wanted to pull it away but I spotted Finnick and Mags standing together by the train and they shook their heads imperceptibly, so I rose my other fist in the air, and listened to the cheers. The cameras were focused on us and I highly doubted that I looked particularly intimidating.

The Peacekeepers moved us on to the train and we climbed up onto it. I had never been on a train before and I stood there at the entrance. I turned to look at the door, catching the last sight of District 4 before the door shut. I still felt like I was in a nightmare, even as the train started to move.

We both turned to each other awkwardly. I didn't know what to say to him. Up until an hour ago, I wouldn't have classified us as friends, but now we were expected to go into the arena and kill each other, should it come to it. I couldn't imagine winning in that fight, but I would try. Hudson opened his mouth to say something when Cassia appeared.

"Go and freshen up before dinner!" Cassia exclaimed. "I will come to get you in twenty minutes!"

Cassia led us to our compartments and I walked into mine and just stood in the middle of the room, looking around. There was my own bathroom, which was crazy. I had never had my own bathroom. At home, we only had one bathroom so it was crazy to think that I had my own. It was ironic getting these luxuries when they knew that we were coming to die. It was so utterly Capitol. I walked over to the bed and perched myself on it. I wasn't sure how I would sleep even though the bed looked comfortable. I hated sleeping in a bed that wasn't mine. I always struggled to sleep when I wasn't at home.

I pulled myself off of the bed after a few moments of silence and went into the bathroom and ran the sink and leaned down and washed my face. When I looked up into the mirror, I hated the haunted look in my eyes. I was doing a good job keeping it together, I thought, but I could see the cracks. I wondered how my mom was doing back at home. I hoped that she would be able to handle this and Oscar would take care of her. I wished that my dad was here and he could be there with my mom. I hated that my mom had lost my dad and now she was probably going to lose me as well. It wasn't fair.

There was a knock at the door and I came out of the bathroom and opened the door. Cassia was standing there with a smile.

"It's time for dinner!"

"Okay," I replied.

I walked out of my room and shut the door behind me, and I walked with her to Hudson's compartment. She knocked on the door and Hudson came out a moment later. We both followed her in silence to the dining car, where Finnick and Mags were standing together in a quiet conversation. When they saw us come into the room, they turned to us, and Mags gestured for us to take our seats.

"Please sit." I walked over to the table and carefully sat down at the table. I was feeling anxious as I watched Hudson sit down on my other side and Mags and Finnick both sat down across from us and Cassia sat down in between Hudson and Mags.

"I'm Mags and this is Finnick and we're going to do our best to get you through this. But we can only help you if you want to help yourselves and you are open and honest with us."

"I will be mentoring you, Annie, and Mags will be mentoring Hudson," Finnick said.

I saw the surprise on Hudson's face tinged with annoyance as he gave me a glance. Finnick was going to be my mentor? I had assumed that Mags would be mine. She had always seemed so kind. Maybe she couldn't handle losing another tribute this year.

We were immediately served by the Capitol attendants and I mostly picked at the food, but I noticed that Hudson was shoveling food into his mouth. I looked down at my plate and forced myself to take a few bites even though I couldn't taste the food. I couldn't stand the quiet but I wasn't going to be the first one to break it. It seemed like everyone else was happy to just eat and stay quiet.

Dinner seemed to go on for hours even though it was probably less than an hour. Finnick and Mags and Cassia kept most of the conversation going with me and Hudson chiming in occasionally. But I was glad when it was finished. It meant that we were one moment closer to getting to go to bed. I knew that once I was in my room for the night I would finally break. I would have to pull myself back together by the morning but I wasn't thinking about how I would do that yet.

"I can't wait to see the competition!" Cassia said with a smile. Up close I could see that she was older than I had thought, perhaps she would be replaced soon. But she had a natural beauty that she hid underneath all of the cosmetic surgeries.

Finnick and Mags shared a look but didn't say anything in response to Cassia. I got the impression that she was an annoyance to them, although they had been nothing but polite.

We found our way into the compartment with the tv screen so we could watch the reaping in its whole. I was nervous to see the other tributes, the people that had the potential to kill me. When it started I bit down on my lip, hard. I knew that my mom was at home watching this too and it felt like a knife through my heart. I should be at home with my mom right now while someone else went to the Capitol. But was that thought selfish? I supposed that it was, but I didn't care. If it meant that I got to live than I would be selfish.

The anthem played and it got into the recap of the reaping very quickly. The male tribute from District One was a terrifying boy named Apollo who looked like he was…unhinged. He fought three other kids to have the honor of the District One tribute spot. The commentators immediately noted that the games were off to an exciting start and I felt my stomach drop. Watching the boy as he cheered, his fists in the air, it gave me a chill down my spine. I had a bad feeling about him.

Besides the occasional comment here and there from someone, we watched in silence. It seemed like a lot of the tributes were on the younger side this year, under fifteen, which turned my stomach. I always hated seeing the twelve-year-olds as tributes. It broke my heart to think of them, they were probably so much more terrified than I was right now. They didn't deserve this. None of us deserved this.

"Well," Finnick said when the reaping was finished, standing up. "We should go to bed. We have a big night tomorrow."

"Night," Hudson said, standing up.

"Night," I echoed quietly, following Hudson to my compartment.

With the door shut, I numbly found some pajamas and changed into them and then went into the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for bed. I reached up and braided my hair into a simple braid and tied it with the ribbon that I had. I got into bed and stared at the wall for a few moments before I broke down into quiet sobs as I covered my mouth to try to stop the noise.

I couldn't sleep. But I couldn't cry anymore either. I was going to be dead in two weeks and sleeping seemed wasteful. I slipped out of my bed and found myself in front of a window in the main train compartment. The full moon illuminated our surroundings and I stood there, mesmerized. I didn't register him standing there until he spoke.

"You should be asleep."

Finnick Odair.

"I can't sleep," I replied, my voice light despite my dismal mood. I could feel my throat begin to constrict. "Don't know how many more days I have."

I'm not sure what I expected Finnick to do. I was sure that I was just another tribute he was mentoring and he didn't care. We had seen him on tv and he always looked indifferent when he lost a tribute. When they interviewed him he would seem to shrug like what can you do? And then disappear from the screens, only to come back when the Capitol citizens got bored. They loved their Finnick.

"Hey," he said his voice surpassingly soft. "Don't count yourself out. Don't give up now. If you give up on yourself than you are certainly not going to win." He placed a hand on my shoulder and looked past me and out at the passing terrain. "I'm going to get you home, Annie. I am going to do everything that I can to make sure you come home."

I was surprised by his words. He seemed so sincere…and yet I wondered if he had said them to every other tribute that he had mentored. But something told me that he didn't. I wanted to ask him why he had picked me as his tribute when Hudson was the obvious choice. I wanted to ask him what it was like, winning the games. There was so much that I wanted to ask but I couldn't form the words yet. I wanted desperately to believe him and to have confidence in him that he would get me home to my mom. But there was only so much he could do. Once I was in the arena…it was just me. And I didn't know how I would make it out of there.

"Promise?" I finally asked.

"I promise," he said, turning to face me, his face had an intensity that scared me. But in that moment I believed him. I knew he would do everything that he could to get me home.

"I couldn't even say goodbye to my dad."

"He was a good man," Finnick said, surprising me again. Most people didn't have nice things to say about my dad after the accident.

"If…if I don't come back…will you check up on my mom?" I asked him, tears in my eyes. Even though I wanted to believe his promise, I still had to ask, still needed to make sure that my mom would be taken care of.

"Of course I will," Finnick promised.

I felt satisfied and I didn't know what else to say, my mind was still reeling. So Finnick and I sat there, in silence, until dawn came. It surprised me that his presence calmed me. I didn't understand what it was about Finnick that made me feel like this. I didn't even know him and yet I felt comfortable sitting there with him. Maybe because he understood what it was like to be on this side. To be a tribute. I was surprised that he just sat with me and didn't speak. He didn't seem wholly there; perhaps he was plagued by past tributes. Ten before me and Hudson. Twelve soon. But I supposed Hudson could do it. Maybe he could win. I'm sure that he will join the career tributes and maybe they'll make it to the final five. I just hope that it happens quickly, my death.

"You should try to sleep. We'll be in the Capitol soon and you'll need your rest."

I just nodded and stood up. I didn't know if I would sleep but I walked towards my compartment. Something stopped me. When I got to the door, I looked back at Finnick still sitting there, watching the train go by.

"Hey, Finnick," I say. He turned his head to look at me. I attempted a smile. "Thanks." He nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"Good night, Annie."

I slid the door shut and collapsed on my bed, falling asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up, we were already in the Capitol. It took me a few minutes to remember where I was. I couldn't help but wonder what my mom is doing right now. Did she already miss me? I felt a few tears well up in my eyes and fall down my cheeks. It still didn't feel real. Less than twenty-four hours ago I believed that I was safe. That it was just another reaping. I had been so naïve, thinking it could never be me.

"Annie?" Mags's voice came through the door. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," I replied back. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay."

I climbed out of bed and looked in the mirror. My red hair was a mess from sleeping and I attempted to tame it by running a brush through it a few times. I gave up a few moments later figuring that I was about to meet with my prep team and well...maybe they could fix it. When I pushed open my compartment door I was surprised by how quiet the train was. It had stopped already and I had the sense that Mags and I were the only people left on the train. How long had I slept? Mags stood waiting for me at the end of the carriage.

"Where is everyone?"

"Finnick just brought Hudson to the Remake center. He said to let you sleep a little more."

"Oh," I replied. "That was nice of him."

Mags nodded. "Let's get you ready. Cassia hates when we mess up that schedule of hers," Mags says with a wry smile. "You slept through breakfast but your prep team will get you anything you ask for."

"I'm not hungry."

Mags turned to me, a serious look on her face. "You will not survive if you don't eat. Promise me that you will eat."

The serious look in her eyes made me nod. "I promise."

I decided then that I liked Mags. I had always thought that she was kind but I had never had a conversation with her before. I knew that I was lucky to have her on our team, even if she's Hudson's mentor. She had been a victor for decades and had mentored scores of victors. She had mentored Finnick. And there was just something in her eyes that made me trust her. It made me think that maybe I had a shot. I didn't believe that I could win…but maybe I could stick it out.

Mags brought me into the largest and most luxurious building that I had ever been in. The windows went from floor to ceiling and the floor was made of marble. There were pictures on the wall that I wanted to stop and look at but I didn't if I wanted to keep up with Mags. The building itself was taller than any building in District Four and the elevator that Mags brought me to was faster and less rickety than the one back at home. I gripped onto the railing and didn't say anything as it brought us up to our floor. It still felt like I was just going through the motions not feeling anything at all.

When the elevator doors opened I was startled to see the three strangest looking people that I had ever seen. One of them, a woman, was incredibly tall with pink hair that went down to her waist. She was smiling and looked friendly and the most normal out of the three of them. The second, a male, had startling orange hair with the skin to match. The third was another woman with lilac skin and short-cropped brown hair. Why did people in the Capitol do things like this? Didn't they realize how ridiculous they looked?

"This is Annie," Mags said, pushing me forward. I wanted to resist but I was so taken aback that I didn't. "Annie this is Phoebe," the girl with pink hair nodded. "Roman," the man with orange skin smiled. "And Livia," Mags finished, the woman with lilac skin waved. "She hasn't had breakfast yet so make sure she eats something soon."

"Sure thing, Mags," Phoebe said, stepping forward. "Come come, we have a lot to do before tonight."

I looked back at Mags one last time wanting to ask her to stay, I didn't want to be alone with these people, but she gave me a sympathetic smile and stepped back onto the elevator and the doors closed. Phoebe took my hand and started to walk towards the bathroom. I glanced around at the room that the elevator had opened up into and I wasn't surprised to see that it was as luxurious as the lobby. The couch looked incredibly comfortable and I wanted to curl up on it and sleep this nightmare away. But I only had a moment to think that before I was pulled into the largest bathroom I had ever been in.

"You have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen," Roman commented, reaching out to toy with it. I wanted to hit his hand away but I held back.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Now Annie what can we get for you? We can get you anything that you could possibly want."

I shrugged my shoulders. Even though I had promised Mags that I would eat I still didn't have any appetite at all.

"Just anything would be fine," I replied.

I looked around and missed the look that my prep team shared. Livia disappeared for a moment and they started the water and told me to get undressed. I hesitated I had never been naked in front of someone else before and I hadn't thought that this was how it would happen. I wanted to think of an excuse and a reason to not do it but I couldn't think of anything and so I sighed and started to pull my clothes off.

Nobody had told me how painful getting ready for tonight would be. It had been hours since Mags had dropped me off in their care and they had stripped me of all of the excess hair on my body and scrubbed my body clean. They had washed my hair and used this product that made my hair shine like it had never done before and they had worked on my nails and made sure that they were all uniform before they painted them with this teal polish.

When Livia had come back she had brought me an entire platter of a variety of different foods that I picked at while they continued to get me ready for the opening ceremony. It still didn't feel real that I was in the Capitol about to get sent into the Hunger Games. Even though my prep team had chattered the entire time that I was with them I couldn't recall a single thing that they had said. I was so stuck in my own head, my thoughts continued to go in circles about the games and about my mom and my dad and how much I wished that I was in District Four.

I looked at the expectant eyes that were on me and I realized that I had no idea what they were saying.

"I'm…I'm sorry," I stumbled. "Can you repeat that?"

Phoebe smiled. "Roman was just asking what Finnick's like," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, um…" I trailed off and looked at them all. "He's nice," I said, knowing that that wasn't what they wanted to know, but I didn't know what to say. "He keeps to himself."

Livia raised an eyebrow. "Finnick Odair keeps to himself?" She asked doubtfully, sharing a look with the other two.

"Yeah?" I replied a questioning look on my face as I pulled my robe around me tighter. I felt like I was missing something but I wasn't sure what.

At that moment an older woman walked into the room and the prep team quickly jumped to attention. She was a plump but pretty woman with long painted nails. She had on tons of makeup on to cover that she was growing older. Her sharp bob was a platinum blonde and she had an intense look about her. From the way that my prep team reacted I could tell that they respected her and were intimidated by her. I felt the anxiety grow in my stomach as I looked at her. My prep team was nice enough and they had been trying to make me feel comfortable even though I had been completely checked out.

"Come," the woman beckoned and I looked at my prep team and Phoebe carefully pushed me forward.

I followed the woman, my stylist, out of the bathroom, and into the living area. She sat down in one of the chairs and looked at me expectantly. I just stood in the middle of the room unsure of what she wanted. I wished that Finnick or Mags was here to explain what was happening or to direct me. I felt so incredibly unsure of myself standing in front of her intense gaze.

"Sit," she commanded, gesturing to the other chair.

"Oh, um, thank you," I said, walking over to the chair, I sat down and rested my hands in my lap.

"I'm Nerissa. I will be your stylist," she finally said, looking at me. Her green eyes looked at me intensely for a few minutes before they softened slightly. "Let's eat lunch before we get to work."

"You mean there's more?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nerissa laughed, it was an unexpectedly warm sound for such an intimidating woman. She pressed a button and I was surprised as a tray rose out of the table a moment later with our lunch. It was a sort of hearty meat stew that I had to admit smelled delicious. There were bits of meat and vegetables floating in it and there was plenty of bread to go with it. For the first time since I had left home the thought of food didn't turn my stomach. Maybe it was because this was something that my mom would have made at home.

"Tell me, Annie, where do you get that beautiful hair?"

"My mom," I said softly, a sad smile on my face. I distracted myself by taking a bite of my stew and then another. The food in the Capitol was the most incredible food that I had ever tasted before.

Nerissa nodded her head. "Tell me about her. About your home," she said, as she took a bite of her lunch.

I was quiet for a few moments but then I found myself telling her about everything. About my dad and what he had done and how it had changed my life. About how worried I was about my mom and how she was going to do it without me. I found myself telling Nerissa things that I couldn't even tell Marina or Ariel like how abandoned I had felt when my mom got remarried so quickly and about how much I missed my dad and I almost wished that he had died that night too because at least we would have been done and would have had some kind of closure. They were thoughts that I had never been able to say out loud to people around me. I had always felt so ashamed of feeling like things would be better if he was gone but now that I was about to go into the games I just let it all out. I didn't even know why I was telling Nerissa all of this. She didn't know me and I didn't know her and despite my initial impressions, I found that maybe…I trusted her.

Nerissa sat there and just listened to me speak. A few times she gathered a handkerchief and handed it to me so I could wipe my eyes.

"Thank you for sharing this with me, Annie," Nerissa finally said when I had gotten it all out of my system. "I am so sorry that you have been put in this situation," She said sincerely.

"It's not your fault."

"No," she agreed. "But lunch is finished and it's time for us to get you ready for the opening ceremony."

I had almost forgotten about the opening ceremony. The only good thing was that tonight was just about standing in the chariot and waving at the people of the Capitol. I was dreading the interviews the night before the games but I wasn't thinking about that yet. I hoped that I could get through it alright.

Nerissa was back to business as she went to work on my makeup. I still didn't know what theme she had gone through. Last year the tributes had been dressed up as fishermen. I was sure that that was what they were going for this year again, it was the typical costume that they put our tributes in. Every time I opened my mouth to ask Nerissa what she was doing she made a shushing sound and I immediately closed my mouth. It seemed like now that she was back to work the intensity had returned.

I was surprised when Roman came into the room holding the outfit that I was going to wear. It didn't look anything like the sailor outfit that I had thought that I would be wearing. But instead, it was what looked like a long gown that flared out at the bottom. The fabric was almost an iridescent blue-green color and I stared at it unable to take my eyes off of it. I had never seen anything like it before.

"This is my last year as a stylist," Nerissa finally said looking at my wide-eyed expression. "I wanted to go out with a bang as they say."

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

"I took inspiration from the old stories they used to tell about sailors and sirens. Hudson is going to be the sailor and you are the siren," she explained.

"You outdid yourself, Nerissa," Livia complimented with a teary smile.

"No no," Nerissa chastised her. "No tears."

Livia excused herself for a moment. I felt guilty for judging them so harshly at first. They weren't what I had expected when I first saw them.

Together they got me into the dress and then finished my hair and my makeup. They had curled my hair and pulled some of it back into a half ponytail on the back of my head. The curls hung loosely on my shoulders and my makeup was dark and smoky and I had never seen myself like this before. I stared in the mirror, shocked that they had managed to make me look so incredible.

"Look at you!" Phoebe clapped happily.

I looked down at the dress. "This is so incredible. Thank you so much, Nerissa."

She just waved my thanks away. "It's time to get down to the chariots."

Everyone rushed into movement and I was whisked down to the bottom of the Remake Center. I was taken aback by all the people bustling around and all of the horses. I had never seen a horse in person and they were so large and intimidating. I was suddenly worried about being on that chariot and what the horses would do. I looked over at Hudson, who was dressed as a captain, and I felt a twinge of grief. I missed my dad but a part of me was glad that he would never know what had happened to me.

"You look amazing," Hudson said with an easygoing smile.

"Thanks," I replied. "So do you."

Nerissa was talking to Sylvia, Hudson's stylist, and I caught Finnick's eyes on me as he and Mags approached us.

"You two look amazing," Mags exclaimed. We thanked her and stood around awkwardly.

I could feel eyes on me as we stood there in a small group. I could see that the District One's tributes were practically dressed in jewels and I just looked away when I saw Apollo leer at me. My stomach lurched and I found Finnick's eyes. He had a frown on his lips as he looked off at something in the distance.

"I wanted to thank you for letting me sleep a little bit later this morning," I told Finnick, going to toy with my outfit, but Nerissa seeing what I was doing, hit my hand away. Finnick and I laughed awkwardly.

"You need your sleep," he said simply.

"Well, thank you still."

Why did I feel so awkward around Finnick?

"Nerissa did an amazing job with your costume. I'm going to have an easy time getting you sponsors," Finnick commented.

I felt my cheeks turn pink. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah. They're going to go crazy."

It's suddenly time for the opening ceremony to start and we're ushered over to our chariots. Hudson surprisingly helps me up onto it and I notice a few of the other tributes giving me a double-take when they see my costume. The music begins and I see the first chariot going and my heart starts to pound. Has any tribute ever thrown up during the opening ceremony? I bit down on my lip, hard, and took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves.

"Hey," Hudson said, looking down at me. "It's going to be okay. Just keep looking forward."

"Thanks," I replied softly.

Hudson nodded and we are suddenly going all of a sudden. I closed my eyes tight for a moment and then when I opened them, we are about to enter the city. I'm amazed that the horses are so well trained that they know exactly what they are doing without any prompting. The first thing that I notice is all of the people that are standing around, cheering for us. Sunlight is fading quickly and I seem to remember watching tributes in the past waving and so I raise my hand and start to wave to the crowd. They are all cheering and I'm not sure if they're cheering for us or for the other tributes.

The ride to the City Circle was deceptive on the television. It had seemed super short when we watched it at home but the ride seemed to go on forever. I was already exhausted from all of the eyes on me as the chariot kept on going. I had never appreciated how many people lived in the Capitol until now. I hadn't realized how big it was here. The streets just seemed to go on and on. The buildings were taller and taller and I was losing track of how far we had gone from the Remake Center.

The chariots looped around the City Circle and stopped in front of President Snow's mansion and the music stopped. I gripped the chariot as President Snow walked out onto his balcony to welcome us to the city. He was much smaller in person which surprised me. I had always thought that he looked taller on the television. I looked over at Hudson and I wondered what he was thinking. I looked towards President Snow again a moment later and I was surprised that it ended as quickly as it had happened. There were so many hours of prep and then the chariot was moving again and bringing us to the training center. I couldn't wait to get all of this makeup off of me and to have dinner and then to get into bed and have a good night's sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"The Capitol can't stop talking about your costume last night. Now we need to keep them talking and get them to remember you. It's the best way to get you sponsors in the arena and with enough sponsors, I can keep you fed until the end."

Finnick and I had brought our breakfast into my room and Mags and Hudson were eating in the dining room. We didn't have to be down at training until ten, or well nine-thirty according to Cassia, and so we were taking time to talk strategy before we went down to training. In any other situation, it would have been strange to have a guy in the room that I slept in, but these were far from normal circumstances. It was starting to feel real as I sat on my bed, my breakfast in my lap, and listened to Finnick talk about a strategy. Finnick was starting to treat Hudson like he was my enemy and I didn't like it. But Finnick was the victor and I realized that I needed to listen to him if I wanted to get out of this alive.

"How do you suggest we do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite of my eggs. My appetite finally seemed to be returning to me. "I don't have any skills that would help."

Finnick shook his head. "You sell yourself short, Annie. There is more to the games than brute strength. Playing it safe and smart gets you further than just brute strength alone. If you get yourself out of the cornucopia and put as much distance from the bloodbath then you are going to last longer than if you go into the cornucopia fighting."

"You've put a lot of thought into this, huh?" I asked with a wry smile on my face.

Finnick laughed. "Just a little bit," he replied. "Come on, you're good with a net, aren't you? Isn't that what your family does?"

"What does making a net have to do with anything?"

Finnick looked incredulous. "Come on, you remember how I won my games don't you?"

"I can't trap people!" I exclaimed. "I—I don't want to kill anyone, Finnick."

"Annie, darling, none of us want to kill anyone. But the games make you do what you have to do to survive. If you want any chance to make it home than you're going to have to do things that you don't want to do or that you don't think that you're capable of doing. It's naïve to think how you're going to react before you get into them." Finnick leaned back in his chair and rested his hand on the back of his head as he looked at me expectantly. "So tell me, Annie Cresta, are you going to heed my advice or am I wasting my time here?"

I was quiet and looked down at my hands for a moment. I knew that Finnick had a point. I had to make a choice. Was I going to do everything that I could to try to win or was I going to give up before it even started? I could feel the anxiety in my chest as I looked at Finnick as he watched me expectantly. I knew that I didn't want to die but the thought of actually killing someone scared me. I couldn't imagine being an aggressor in the games like Finnick had been or even Mags and I knew that that was what I needed to be to win. But I had never asked for this, I had never wanted to be in the games and I had never imagined myself in this situation. But the minute that my name was announced I should have realized that my life as I knew it was over. I was in denial but Finnick's words were like a bucket of cold water being poured over my head. I was suddenly incredibly aware of what was happening around me and the very real fact that my life was in danger and if I had any chance of winning I needed to put my old self behind and do whatever I had to do to survive.

"I'll do whatever you say," I finally said.

"Brilliant," Finnick said with an easy grin. "So tell me, Annie. What are your biggest strengths? Come on, think."

"I guess…I'm a really strong swimmer," I mentioned. Finnick nodded encouragingly. "I want to survive."

"Bingo," Finnick said. "The will to survive will keep you going in the Games. What do you know about scavenging for food?"

"Uh...not much."

Finnick nodded. "Then that's what I want you to work on today. Go to all of the stations that will help you survive, understand me? Learn how to identify plants, medicine. Go to any station that will help you stay alive is what you're going to do today. We're going to play the long game, Annie."

Xx

When Cassia came to get me and Hudson, Finnick and I were still deep in conversation about our plans for the games. When he saw Cassia his eyes had widened and he had quickly excused himself without much of a word. I sat there, confused, wondering why he had left so quickly. Had I said something? I bit down on my lip, unsure of what had just happened.

"Coming Annie?" Cassia asked with her silly Capitol accent.

"Yes," I replied, pushing the thoughts of Finnick out of my head.

It was an awkward ride down to the training rooms. Cassia prattled on about the Capitol's excitement for the Games and how wonderful my stylist was. Hudson stayed silent and stared forward the entire time and I barely acknowledge Cassia's words. I think that she was too excited to notice that we weren't paying attention. My mind was on Finnick and his weird behavior when Cassia had come in. Maybe he had somewhere to go? I couldn't figure out why he had been acting so strange out of nowhere. Everything had seemed comfortable between us so why did Cassia's appearance cause him to run off like that?

"Well, I will see you two later!" Cassia trilled as the elevator doors opened and we stepped out.

I stood there for a moment taking the gymnasium in. About two-quarters of the tributes were there already since Cassia had insisted that we come down at least fifteen minutes before we were supposed to be here. I looked around the room taking in the different training stations. There was a variety of weapon and survival training but I ignored the weapon training for today and immediately made a plan to work hard at the survival stations. I briefly wondered what Hudson's plan was and what Mags had instructed him to do today. Hudson barreled ahead, one of the attendants pinned a white cloth on his shirt, and I looked at them confused until one approached me as well and I saw that it was our district identifier.

The elevator door opened again and I immediately stepped out of the way. My stomach dropped when I saw the male tribute from District One. He was much taller and bigger in person and he screamed danger. With his dark brown hair and cold blue eyes, he was immediately someone that I wanted nothing to do with. I could remember the way that the announcers had been so excited about him at the Reaping and I just knew that he was going to be a problem. Compared to the male tribute from One, the female tribute was positively petite but the look in her eyes was just as dangerous as his. I knew that she would be a threat in the arena too. I cursed my luck that the tributes from District One and presumably District Two were dangerous.

As more tributes arrived I walked into the center of the room where the trainers were standing around. Seeing the other kids up close caused my stomach to drop. Even though I wasn't particularly muscular and I felt like I was an average size, some of these kids were so much smaller and younger than I was. It was a slap in the face that I had lived a very privileged life. People rarely went hungry in District Four…but that clearly wasn't the case for some of these kids. Some of them were so young…way too young to be in the Hunger Games, I felt.

My conversation with Finnick came rushing back to me. How could I possibly kill one of these kids? I knew that some of them were probably stronger than they looked, that there were threats hidden among us, but I just couldn't imagine having to kill someone.

"Gather around," a woman called and everybody moved towards her creating a big circle.

I stood near the female tribute from District Twelve and I glanced over at her for a moment. She looked so young and so small and it made me sick. Across the circle was Hudson, who was looking at Atala, the head trainer. We had barely talked since we had left Four and I wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he thought that I wasn't going to make it and he didn't want to get attached.

I listened to Atala explain every station and I made notes of where I wanted to go today. I knew that Finnick was going to want me to train with one of the weapons and I would have to get over my aversion to weapons. I knew that if my dad were here he would remind me that we were all fighting for our lives and that we had to do whatever we had to do to try to come home. But my dad wasn't here. And he didn't even know what was happening to me. It was a blessing, I guess, because I knew that if he knew what had happened to me…it would have devastated him. Although maybe if he hadn't done what he did...Saylor would have volunteered in my place and I would still be at home back in District Four.

"If anybody needs any help there are trainers at every station that will help you. You may go to as many or as few stations as you would like. Lunch will be served here and there are no reasons why you will need to leave this gymnasium before dinner. Go on and get started," Atala finished.

Everybody stood around looking at one another for a few moments before people started to break from the group and wander towards the different stations. Hudson made a beeline for the weapons and I wasn't surprised. I was sure that he would be included in the Career tribute pack this year. I turned and went towards the survival stations.

"If you're thinking about trying to escape it's not going to work."

I jumped and turned towards Finnick. Tears were streaming down my face as I furiously tried to wipe them away. I was up in the gardens of the training center sitting near the edge of the roof watching the people move around. Even though there wasn't any physical barrier keeping me from leaping off I still felt like I was in a cage. I missed the freedom of District Four and the ocean. I missed how safe and serene I would feel when I sat on the beach watching the waves crash on the sand. It was so overwhelming, being here. In four days I would be in the arena. It was going so quickly and I wished that I could slow time down.

"I—I didn't know you were up here," I told him, glad that it was dark out and he couldn't see me clearly from where he was standing.

"I saw you come up here…I thought you might want some company."

"Sure," I said softly.

I hoped that Finnick wouldn't see that I had been crying as he made his way towards me. I looked away and back out to the city. What was it like to grow up in the Capitol without having any worries? What would it be like to see the Games as entertainment instead of a time of mourning? I could sense Finnick standing beside me, observing me, as I looked away.

"Hey," he said softly. "Look at me."

I resisted for a few moments, hoping that I could get my emotions in check but when I felt Finnick's hand on my shoulder I finally turned to face him.

"Why are you crying?"

I wanted to laugh. Wasn't it obvious? But instead, I just started to cry harder and Finnick reached out and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his arms. I cried against his chest and he rubbed my back, whispering that it was going to be okay. I didn't believe him. It had been two days of training and I had seen what Apollo and Sapphire, Ally and Slayte could do. They would take me out in a second and they wouldn't even think twice about it. They didn't have the same reservations about killing us. They had trained for this for their entire lives. The Academy in their Districts had prepared them for this and I was just so not ready for this.

"Annie, please, I hate to see you cry," Finnick begged his voice barely above a whisper.

He continued to rub my back as I slowly felt the tears start to slow and eventually stop and my breathing started to return back to normal. Looking up at him I noticed for the first time that Finnick really wasn't that much older than me. I felt a strange fluttering in my stomach that I didn't understand. I told myself that it was just because I had never been so close to a boy that I wasn't friends with.

"Are you okay?" He asked, letting go of me. I wished that he didn't, though. I remembered how I had felt better when we sat together the first night on the train.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I just…I'm scared, Finnick. I don't know how I'm going to do this."

Finnick was silent for a few moments. "It's okay to be scared. You can let it out. But then you need to put yourself back together and you need to be brave again. I know that you have it in you. I know that you don't see it but you are stronger than you think you are. You are going to make it through this."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You got through everything with your dad, remember? Only a strong person could do that."

I gave him a sideways look. When had Finnick noticed so much about me? I had always watched him flirt and laugh with the other girls, the prettier girls. When had he had time to notice me?

"You surprise me," I told him with a faint smile on my lips.

Finnick laughed. "Well, I'm full of surprises, haven't you heard?"

I smiled for real and laughed. "Good to know."

"There's a smile. I hate to see pretty girls cry."

I felt those butterflies in my stomach again. "You think that I'm pretty?"

Finnick looked incredulous. "You have no idea do you?"

"No idea what?"

Finnick shook his head and laughed. "Oh, Annie. Come on, it's a big day tomorrow, let's go back inside and talk strategy before bed."

I had spent my morning learning how to snare food and make traps. I already knew how to fish but there was no guarantee that fishing would be a sustainable way to feed myself once I was in the games. Nobody knew what the arena would look like until we were thrown into it so learning how to make traps and snares seemed to be the most pressing issue. If I could feed myself without having to go back to the cornucopia than I could hide out until the end and maybe I would have a chance of surviving.

Last night with Finnick had been confusing but I didn't have time to think about it. Today was our private session with the Gamemakers and I couldn't afford any distractions. I needed to make sure that I could get a decent score. I still didn't think that I would get much better than a three, and Hudson would probably get at least a seven, but I was hopeful that maybe they would be impressed by something that I could do.

Everybody dropped everything at lunch and made their way to the dining room. There was no denying the tension in the room as we waited for the tributes from District One to get called back for their private session. I found a spot at one of the tables and I sat down trying to keep my breathing even and keep my mind off of my nerves about what I was going to do. Finnick had suggested showing off a variety of the skills that I had picked up, but I worried that that would be a dumb idea and it would get me a bad score. But I hadn't come up with a better idea so I had just decided to wing it and see what happened.

"Hey, Four?" Apollo called out.

Since the first day of training, it had felt like he was singling me out and I didn't trust it. He was dangerous, I was sure of it. But I didn't want him to know that he was getting to me either. I turned around to face Apollo, and I just hoped that my face was devoid of emotion. I had to look brave and like I could be a threat.

"What?" I asked.

Apollo and Sapphire looked at each other and smirked. "What does it feel like to know that you're about to disappoint your district?"

I felt my stomach lurch but I didn't let it show on my face. "I don't know, you tell me," I replied.

I could hear a few of the other tributes snicker but the look on Apollo's face scared me.

"What did you just say to me?" He demanded stalking towards me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hudson shift and I wondered if he would come to my aide if it came to it. Or would he let Apollo hurt me?

I didn't have to find out because they called Apollo's name a moment later and he was escorted into his private session. Without him there I felt like I could breathe better but as it got closer to my turn I could feel my heart start to pound in my chest. I only had fifteen minutes to make an impression on them. The higher the score the better the sponsors. I wasn't expecting any crazy score, I would be happy with anything above a five, I knew that I wasn't going to get a crazy high score and that was okay. As long as it was somewhat decent and it got me the sponsors that Finnick hoped to get.

When Hudson was called our eyes met and we both nodded our heads in acknowledgment. I stood up and started to pace the room. Without the Career tributes around I felt a little bit better. I took the time to observe the other tributes. I hadn't paid much attention to the other ones before now, but as I observed them, I noticed that the male tribute from District Seven looked like a potential threat. He was big and he looked like he could be a problem. But standing there without the Career tributes, I noticed just how young some of the tributes were. Their deaths were always the worst for everybody watching and I just hoped that they went quickly, if they did.

When my name was finally called I felt like I was going to be sick. My entire body was shaking as I walked back into the gymnasium. The Gamemakers had spent some time over the past few days observing but everything looked more official with all of them sitting up in the stands eating and drinking. One of them, a young woman, looked curiously at me as I came into the room.

"Are you Finnick Odair's tribute?" She asked.

I was taken aback, I didn't know that they spoke to us. But I nodded my head. "I am."

"Lucky girl," she said with a grin.

"Um…thank you. I know." I wasn't sure what she was suggesting but I figured that it was best to agree with her.

"You may begin," another Gamemaker instructed.

I took a deep breath to try to calm my racing heart as I surveyed the room. I wished that there was a pool to show off my swimming but the gymnasium didn't have a pool. I realized that I didn't have time to waste and made my way over to the survival station first and began working on a snare. It took a few moments but when I was finished I made sure that the Gamemakers could see it before I moved over to the other side and I grabbed a trident, and even though I hoped that I would never have to use it, I figured that it was what they were expecting from me since Finnick was my mentor. I wasn't particularly good with it, not like Finnick, but my father had taught me how to use one when I was younger, but it had mostly been to spear fish or for show.

Eyeing the dummies that were there for us to practice against, I did some showy moves with the trident, I cursed myself when I fumbled a few times, but I hoped that the Gamemakers didn't notice. I finally stabbed into the dummy and I winced when it made contact. It felt so real like I was stabbing a person. Or at least it felt like I imagined that it would feel like if you stabbed a person. I glanced back at the Gamemakers and rushed back over to the net station and started to work on a net until my time was up.

"Thank you," I said.

I walked out with no idea how they felt that it had gone. It was an overwhelming feeling, knowing that it was completely out of my hands. I didn't know if they thought that it went okay, but I hoped that they would at least give me a five. With this behind me, the day was open for me to do whatever I wanted. But I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I made my way back to my room and decided to take a long shower hoping that it would settle my racing brain. I wasn't ready to talk about how it went with Finnick or even Mags and I was sure that Hudson had done a hell of a lot better than I was. I got into the shower and enjoyed the way that the hot water hit my skin as I felt some of the anxiety start to melt away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter we'll find out what Annie's score was and see how her interview goes! The Games will be starting soon and i'm very excited for you all to see what happens. School just started back up for me so i'm going back to work but I'm not going to abandon this story anytime soon! Updates may just be a little less frequent then they have been, so i'm just asking for patience while I try to figure things out with work! All that said I hope that you liked this chapter and I would love to hear any thoughts you have! Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

When the Capitol anthem played its final notes I was up and out of the room. I was so embarrassed. Hudson got an eight and me? I got a five. I hadn't been expecting much for my score. But a five? I knew that my time with the Gamemakers wasn't spectacular but I had hoped that it would be better than a five. Nobody from District Four did so badly. I knew that my chance of getting a lot of sponsors was shot and my chance of outlasting the others was gone too.

It had been humiliating having to sit there through the rest of the scores with everyone's eyes on me. I could feel them staring even though nobody said anything about my score. I knew what they were thinking without them having to say anything. Finnick must have been wishing that Hudson was his tribute, not me. I knew that I had disappointed him and he was going to have a harder time keeping me alive.

I found myself up on the roof again. It was quickly becoming the place that I felt safest and felt most like my home. It wasn't the beach but standing amongst the flowers and watching all of the people go about their lives brought me some sort of peace in the same way that the waves hitting the shore brought me peace. I got lost watching the cars go by and the people carrying shopping bags as they went back home. What were their lives like? What did it feel like to be free to live your life without having to worry about the Games?

"Hey."

I nearly jumped expecting to see Finnick, but I furrowed my brows when I saw Hudson. "I thought that you were Finnick. What're you doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing, I 'spose," he said.

"Right."

"Just a few more days, huh?"

"Yeah," I said, my stomach dropping at the thought. After tonight we would be in the arena in three days and I couldn't believe it. The days had been going by in a blur and she only had two full days before the Games started. "Did…did anybody say anything?" I knew that he would know what I was talking about.

"No," Hudson replied. He looked over at me and I looked away, my cheeks pink with embarrassment. "The scores don't matter, Annie."

"That's coming from the guy who got an eight," I retorted, realizing that it sounded more bitter than I had intended. I had meant it in a teasing way, but…it came out bitter and jealous.

"There's more to winning the Games than brute strength. We all know that the Gamemakers love a good show. But remember that tribute a few years ago from Eight? They were the underdog and they got like a three. And they still won because they hid out the whole time."

I just shrugged. Most of the victors were tributes like Hudson and Finnick. They weren't like me. It was just how it was.

"Come on, you're telling me that your strategy with Finnick isn't to just run off into the woods and hide? I remember when we were kids, you used to be the best at hide and seek. None of us could ever find you. You remember that, don't you?" Hudson asked.

"I…I didn't think that you would remember that," I replied softly.

It felt like a lifetime ago our childhood. Even though me and Hudson had never been good friends, we had been neighbors and our moms had always been friends. We would spend hours playing tag and hide and seek while our moms talked after school. It had been before they separated us into kids who would go to the Academy and the kids who wouldn't. It had been before my dad's accident and before everything got so complicated.

"Of course I did," Hudson replied softly with a shrug. "It was part of my childhood too, you know? All of us playing together."

Some of us had gone to the Games never to come back. Our group of friends and people our age had dwindled over the past seven or so years. And Hudson and I were about to potentially join our friends that had come before us. Some had volunteered like Hudson and some were like me, reaped but not prepared for the Games.

We were both silent, lost in thoughts of people that we had known a long time ago. People that had properly stood here just like me and Hudson. I watched from my perch as Hudson walked towards the edge of the building and stared out at the people walking by. He turned back towards me a few moments later with a look of disgust on his face.

"They just go about their lives with no regard for what we're about to go through. It's all just a game to them. They don't care who lives or dies so long as they get a show. It makes me sick," Hudson seethed his eyes blazing with anger. "They go about their lives without even feeling guilty for all of the blood on their hands. All of them. They're complicit in all of this."

I looked at him in surprise. He was verbalizing everything that I had been thinking but had been unable to put into words. But it was a shock to hear the words coming from him of all people. He had trained to be in the Games and she had always thought that he would want to be in the Games to bring honor to his family but she had never heard someone from the Academy talk about the Games in that way, with so much hatred in their eyes.

"But you volunteered, I thought—"

"That I was like the others? That I was like Apollo? You don't know me, Annie. You don't know anything about me."

"I didn't think that you were anything like Apollo. I just…I thought…" I trailed off as I started to watch him pace back and forth on the rooftop. "I don't know what I thought. I'm sorry."

Hudson shook his head. "It's fine." He looked away for a few moments. "I couldn't let that kid die. You saw him, he was terrified. He would never make it past the bloodbath. Did you know that he's the oldest of seven? His dad died a few years back…they need him. I couldn't let him go, not when I've been training for years for this. That's why I got an eight, Annie. They've been training us to do this my entire life."

I was silent as I looked over at him. He wasn't what I expected. And I felt bad for assuming the worst of him and of not trying to get to know him these past few days. If I didn't win I hoped that Hudson would. He deserved it.

I couldn't stop thinking about the things that Hudson had said about the Capitol people and the Games. On the roof, it hadn't seemed so dangerous but now while I was lying in bed? I realized that if anybody had heard Hudson say those things…he would probably be dead already. And would I have been to just for hearing what he had to say? I felt guilty for not getting to know him more when I had the chance and for avoiding him while we were in the Capitol. But now…it seemed like it was too late.

After spending what felt like hours staring up at the ceiling in my room I pushed myself out of bed. I needed some water and a change of scenery. I pulled on some shoes and walked out of my room and into the small kitchen that was off to the side. I got myself a glass of water and stood near the counter. I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was nearly three in the morning. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, Cassia had said that she was going to start with me and I was dreading it. I was willing to do whatever I had to to impress the Capitol and prepare for my interview but I wasn't looking forward to any of it.

From the other room, I could hear the elevator doors open and I glanced at the clock again. Who was coming in so late? I could hear someone stumble in and knock something over in the other room. I put my glass of water down on the counter and walked out of the kitchen and into the main space and saw Finnick standing there, a vase broken on the floor.

"Annie!" Finnick exclaimed smiling.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked my eyes wide. Finnick was drunk the night before he was supposed to help me with the interviews.

"No," Finnick slurred with a laugh.

"Uh huh, sure," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

I walked over to him and sighed. I glanced at the glass shards on the ground and stepped around them, glad that I had thought to put my shoes on before I came out.

"Come on, Finnick, let's get you to bed," I told him. I wrapped my arm around him and he immediately leaned into me and I nearly fell over. "Jeez you're heavier than you look," I muttered as I started to guide us towards his room.

"So pretty," he told me, playing with my hair.

"Uh huh," I said distractedly as I continued to bring him towards his room. "Let's go, almost to your room, Finnick."

I was glad when we finally got to his room. I pushed the door open and helped him over to his bed. He collapsed down onto the bed and I leaned over and pulled his shoes off. I eyed him and refused to change him out of his clothes so I decided that he could just sleep in the same outfit that he was wearing.

"What were you even doing tonight?" I asked, sure that he wasn't going to answer.

"Can't tell you," he muttered, curling up in his bed facing me.

"Okay…" I trailed off, biting down on my lip, unsure. I noticed a sadness in Finnick's eyes that I had never seen before. "You need to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

I started to walk towards the door to go clean up the glass on the floor and then I was going to get my water and try to sleep. I was at the door and was about to pull it open when I heard Finnick stir.

"Don't go," Finnick whispered.

"What?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Stay with me," he mumbled, half asleep.

"Finnick…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Why did Finnick want me to stay? And why did I want to? I knew that I needed to get some sleep, tomorrow was going to be a long day, but looking back at Finnick, he looked so sad and I didn't want to leave him. So I dropped my hand from the doorknob and I walked back over to Finnick. I sat on the edge of his bed and looked down at him.

"I'll stay for a few minutes," I said.

"Good," Finnick whispered before turning over and falling asleep.

I moved so my back was against the wall and I looked down at Finnick as he slept. Where was Finnick tonight? And why was he drunk? I knew that I should be angry at him for being drunk when we were supposed to do interview prep tomorrow, but he looked so sad that I couldn't bring myself to be angry with him. But why was he looking so sad? And why did he want me to stay with him?

I knew that I should get up now that he was asleep and get to bed but my mind was still racing a thousand miles a minute. I had so many questions for Finnick but I didn't think that he would answer them. Slowly I felt my eyes start to droop and I curled up on Finnick's bed.

I jolted awake confused about my surroundings. I looked over at Finnick and felt my heart start to pound. What time was it? I was sure that that was against the rules and if someone found out…well, I wasn't sure what would happen. I didn't want to find out. I quickly and quietly climbed over Finnick and made my way towards the door. I looked back at him. Would he remember what had happened last night? I wasn't sure.

I quietly opened the door and looked back at Finnick. He was still sleeping. I stepped back out into the living room and quickly made my way back to my room. I could see that the sun was just starting to come up, and I was glad that nobody was awake yet. I climbed into my bed and quickly fell back asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The bright sunlight pouring into my room was the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes. The second was Cassia's smiling face. I jolted up and felt my heart start to pound, not expecting to see someone standing in my room. I had forgotten that we were supposed to prepare for the interviews tomorrow night. I felt my stomach lurch. I wasn't ready for the Games to start. The days were going too fast. After tomorrow we would be in the arena and whatever happened would happen. All of the preparations would mean nothing if I died in the bloodbath.

"Up, up!" Cassia trilled. "We have a lot to do this morning!"

"I'm up," I groaned as I flopped back onto my pillows and closed my eyes again.

"Annie, up," Cassia said firmly. "I'll be back in five minutes."

I looked towards her as she turned and went to the door. How could she be so perky this early in the morning? And how did she look so put together? Was it some sort of Capitol thing that they woke up completely ready for the day? It took me at least twenty minutes to get myself together in the morning. I felt tired and sluggish and the last thing that I wanted was to get out of bed. I only had two more nights before the Games started and I thought that I should be allowed to sleep as much as I wanted.

My mind drifted to Finnick. I wondered how he was feeling this morning. He was probably still asleep. I was just hoping that he would be put together by the time that we were supposed to plan for tomorrow night. If he was a mess like he was last night he was going to be zero help. I still didn't know what to think about last night. Why did he want me to stay? What was going on? Where was he? But I pushed that thought out of my mind and pushed out of bed.

I went over to the dresser and pulled out a plain t-shirt and some pants and went into the bathroom to get dressed and wash my face. The cold water made me feel slightly more alert. I dragged a brush through my hair a few times and decided that that was the extent of me getting ready this morning. I had never been one to take a long time getting ready in the morning, I didn't see the point. I wasn't like my mom, who even now, spent what seemed like hours to get ready.

When I came out of the bathroom I saw that Cassia was already back in my room, waiting. I bit down on my lip, nervous and unsure of what to expect from this training. I was sure that it would be torture. Cassia was smiling and looked excited.

"Let's get started!"

"What are we starting with exactly?"

"We have four hours to turn you into a proper lady."

"Oh," I replied, wondering if I should feel offended.

Cassia immediately threw herself into our preparations. She had me walk in these high heels that would be similar to what I would wear tomorrow. She was shocked when she saw that I could already walk in heels.

"My mom has a pair," I explained, feeling a wave of homesickness.

"Really? All the way back in District Four?"

"Yes. My dad was um, a captain. He bought her some for special parties and stuff."

"A captain? I didn't know your dad was a captain!"

"He was. Before his, um, accident."

I saw the look on Cassia's face. The one that I was so familiar with the, I'm so sorry look that people got when they learned what had happened to my dad. Or when they learned that something had happened. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Cassia said sympathetically. But there was something different about it when Cassia said it, it was like she was…actually sorry for me.

"Thank you," I said softly. I looked away from Cassia and I thought about my dad. Would I ever get to see him again? Or even my mom? I missed them both so much it was a constant ache in my chest.

The moment had passed and Cassia threw herself back into work. She made me walk a little bit more in the heels and then she pulled out a dress and had me put it on and walk in the dress some more. I thought that it was a complete and utter waste of time, but I didn't argue with her. She kept reminding me to smile and kept sharing different phrases that she thought that I should say during the interview, which I thought was positively ridiculous, but I just smiled and nodded my head. I didn't want to argue with her.

"You know, Annie, I don't think that you have anything to worry about. The people in the Capitol will remember you for your gorgeous hair, you can walk in those shoes and I think that people will like you. Between you and me, you and Hudson are the most civilized. That boy from District One seems like a savage. The stories that his escort has been telling me," she shook her head and made a tutting sound.

As if walking in shoes would mean that I survived. All of the things that she was talking about were so superficial, but I knew that the Capitol people were superficial. But if they liked me then they would sponsor me and Finnick could potentially keep me alive if I made it out of the bloodbath and put distance between myself and all of the other tributes. I thought that Cassia was generally useless, but she knew the people of the Capitol and if she thought that there was a chance that they would like me then maybe it wasn't all lost.

"Well, good work this morning, Annie. Go have some lunch and then you will work with Finnick," Cassia said with a smile before flouncing out of the room.

I walked out of my room and into the common room. Hudson and Mags were standing there, deep in conversation. I bit my lip, wondering if I should go back into my room to give them more time but when Mags saw me, she smiled.

"Hello Annie," she greeted.

"Hi," I replied. Hudson nodded his head.

"How was your morning?"

"Exhausting," I said as I went over to the table and took a plate. I glanced around to make sure that Cassia wasn't there; I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Mags smiled sympathetically. "Today is almost over."

"Thankfully," I agreed. "How was your morning, Hudson?"

"Good," he said, sharing a glance with Mags.

It made my stomach turn. "That's good," I replied, hoping that they couldn't hear how unsettled I was. Even though they weren't talking Games strategy, Hudson already had a huge advantage over me in terms of scores.

I put some food onto my plate and excused myself, wanting a bit of a break from everyone before I had to work with Finnick all afternoon. I sat down at the table in my room and ate my lunch, glad for the silence after this morning of talking. I wanted to just get back into bed and sleep for a few more hours. I was starting to feel myself crash and I knew that this afternoon would be rough. I just hoped that it would go by quickly and then tonight I would have to get some decent sleep.

When I finished my lunch I brought my plate out to get cleaned and went back into my room and curled up in the chair, waiting for Finnick. He was supposed to be in in a few minutes but I hadn't seen him yet today and I wondered if he had even woken up yet. I doubted that Mags would let him sleep all day, especially when he had something to do today, but as I glanced at the clock and saw that it was getting past the time that had been set for our session, I started to worry. Should I go and find him? Maybe he hadn't woken up yet or he had forgotten about it?

I was about to get up and go find him when the door opened.

"You look rough," I commented as I leaned back in my chair. Finnick had just walked into the room, his eyes rimmed with red and exhaustion on his face. How was it possible that he looked worse now than he had last night? Before last night I had never seen him look like this before, he always looked put together and like he had no problems. But last night changed that. He had clearly been dealing with some things. I could still hear him say that he couldn't tell me whatever was wrong. And the way that he had asked me to stay…it had been so sad. "You're also late."

Finnick collapsed into the chair across from me and ran his hand over his face. "I'm sorry, Annie," he said, opening his eyes to look at me.

"For what?" I asked. He had plenty of things to apologize for today after last night and now just being late.

"I was a mess last night. You shouldn't have had to deal with that last night."

"It's okay," I murmured. "Are you okay, Finnick?"

"I'm fine," he said with an easy laugh, sitting up straighter. He looked down at his hands, fidgeting, but when he looked up it was like he had transformed himself. He still looked a mess with his red-rimmed eyes and the exhaustion on his face, he was looking more like himself than he had when he walked in the room. "Let's get down to work, I heard from Cassia that you did great this morning. So that's good. But now let's talk our strategy for tomorrow night."

"Yeah, she had me walking in shoes for hours," I explained.

"Sounds like Cassia," he agreed. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you, Annie. I don't think you have anything to worry about tomorrow. You're likable and sweet, and the people are going to see that; especially after they see the tributes that come before you. They're all monsters, the lot of them. They're going to show up tomorrow and they're going to show that they're the bloodthirsty tributes that they are. You're going to be a breath of fresh air to them."

"If you're so sure that they're going to like me then what's the point of all of this?"

"We've been wrong before," Finnick shrugged. "It's just part of the Games, Annie. We have things that we have to do. And besides, practice will help you prepare for the questions that Ceasar is going to ask. Look, I know it's dumb. You're going to do fine. But we all have our roles to play and there are just some things that we all have to do."

Somehow, practicing for the actual interview was worse than working with Cassia this morning. Finnick kept trying up different angles that I could play and none of them felt natural in the slightest. I wasn't witty or flirty or arrogant. I was just me. And if Finnick wanted me to go out there and play one of these different angles than the Capitol would see through it in a minute and they would see that I was a fake.

"You said that they would like me, Finnick. Why are you trying to change who I am for them? Why can't I just be me?"

My question seemed to stump him. I just felt so frustrated. Why did things have to be like this? Why couldn't I just be myself?

"It helps to have an angle. It's usually what they do," He finally explained.

"My angle is that I want to survive and I'm going to do the best that I can. Why isn't that enough?"

"Because they're just Games to them, Annie! All of this is a big game and they don't care who wins. Not really. As long as they get a show. If they get a show than they're happy, and then President Snow is happy. Just do what you have to do. Please, just listen to me. I'm looking out for you here. I'm trying my best. Just…just cooperate, okay? I know what I'm doing."

I stared at him and saw the honesty on his face. He looked so desperate, and something in me made me want to listen to him.

"Okay," I whispered after an awkward pause. "Tell me what to do."


End file.
